NYC Triathlon 2014

Race Report

FAT OR CARBS?

A l(not so short) look at the two main options for fueling in endurance sports

My Famous Fails

A little recap of my accidents

Race Recap of the Demi-Marathon des Microbrasseries

Race report for this new race, complete with multiple distances, and BEER!!!

Tuesday 27 December 2011

Winter Running

So just a quick followup on my last post about how treadmills are (potentially) bad...

I decided to give running outside a chance after much criticism from my team and coach about all my treadmill running.
Apparently triathletes aren't afraid of a little inclement weather, and it was suggested that I just put on some layers and head out the door.


The rest of my team has been running outside every Saturday, and obviously I cant admit that they are tougher than me, so I really had no other choice but to start getting ready for a little cold-weather treading. I headed over to The Running Room, suited up, and was all set.

The important thing to keep in mind when running outside is to wear many layers.
My personal preference so far has been;
- Under Armour base layer compression top
- Champion quick-dry half-turtleneck top
- Running Room Jacket
- Ronhill Vision Winter Tights

As winter gets colder I might have to switch to a warmer option for my legs, but for now I seem to be ok. I tend to get quite hot when I run, so I'm perfectly content.

I went on one quick run just as a test, and then I also had the opportunity to run with my coach on the beautiful Mount Royal on Xmas morning. Below is the map and my watch data for that run. Im not sure whats up with the pacing, its kind of all over the place, but while running we were generally just above 10 minute mile.


That's all for now,
Keep Tri-ing!

Are treadmills bad?



Ever since I started running at all, I had a pretty simple seasonal running plan; If it was spring/summer/fall and not too bad weather, I would train outside. Otherwise, the treadmill was my best friend. I’ve never been shy about this. I don’t enjoy being uncomfortable, and running while wet/cold just never appealed to me. Now theoretically, running on a treadmill versus outdoors is not entirely bad. If you aren’t going to be physically active at all, then using a treadmill is a great option.

The major argument against using treadmills for training is that the muscles used when treadmill running is different than outdoor running, because of the benefit of having the belt move. This affects your form, and can actually cause injury over time because of the difference in biomechanics. This doesn’t mean that there are no benefits to running on treadmills. For example, they can often be much easier on bones and joints, because they tend to have built in impact compression (at least the better models). Obviously the convenience and enjoyment factor is also a bit up, because it easy to keep running while watching a show or movie on TV.

If you do choose to run on a treadmill, it is often advised that you put set the incline grade to at least 1%. This will help in part to minimize the effect of the moving belt, and better simulate real life conditions.

In the end, the choice is yours, but once you get into it, running outside in the winter really isn't that bad at all.
Take care, and keep tr-ing!

Sunday 25 December 2011

Ironman Hawaii 2011

Hey I just wanted to add the full version of the Hawaii Ironman 2011 World Championship NBC coverage video. Enjoy and be inspired!

Monday 12 December 2011

My first Triathlon


Most people ending up having some sort of story for their first Triathlon, and I thought I would share mine (at the time of writing, also my only Tri).

At the beginning of this past summer, I ran the Ottawa Half-Marathon, which made it my second Half. I had been casually running for a few years and had done a handful of 10Ks as well.
After doing the Ottawa, I realized that although running 21.1K is never easy, it was something that I already knew I could do, so I needed to add on another challenge. I had heard about Triathlon and wanted to eventually steer myself in that direction. Swimming was definitely not a strong point, so I decided to start with biking.
I went out and bought my bike and all the basic required gear for a serious cyclist. I began looking for duathlon to compete in near the area and found the Cornwall Triathlon, which had a duathlon component. So that summer I started cycling a fair bit more, and trying to get ready for it, though to be honest I could have done a lot more training. About a month away from the race, my cousin told me that he was planning on competing in the Montreal Esprit Triathlon. Obviously I took this as a challenge, and decided that if he could do a Tri, so could I. I decided to start getting ready for the Cornwall Tri-a-Tri. Unfortunately, I clearly hate myself, because I figured if my cousin was doing the Olympic distance, I could at the very least do the Sprint instead.
I had not really swam in at least a dozen years. I took some swimming lessons to get an idea of proper form and prepared to rent a wetsuit for the extra buoyancy.

So ya, a month away from the race, I decided to do my first ever Triathlon.

Race day came around, I went to the race, set up my transition area, put on my wetsuit, and went down to the water to wait for the start.
The whistle blew and I WAS OFF!!! I powered strong, passing people quickly right away.
That lasted about 50 meters before my arms got tired.
I got passed by everyone and their mother. I tried front-crawl, breast-stroke, back-stroke, floating backwards. I was wiped out. I finally came out of the water after about a half hour exhausted and I believe third to last out of the water.

I got my wetsuit stripped, waddled my way to my bike and got started the second phase of the race.
I biked through the circuit , finally getting my wind back, and thinking that everything was going to be OK maybe. As I reached the end of the circuit, volunteers saw me and wave me back into transition. I ran the last phase of the race tired but uneventfully. When I got to the finish line I got my medal, and saw that I had placed 9th / 11 for my age group. Not bad for my first race right?
I ate some food and for while walking around the finish area, decided to see how other racers had done. This was when I realized that my name was now near the bottom of the page, with a DQ next to it.

It turns out that in my exhaustion, I had missed a second lap on my bike. I had taken so long in the water that the volunteers waving me into transition must have thought I had already done both laps.
Worst part is, the speedometer that I ordered off of Amazon came in the mail the next day, which would have let me realize I had only bike half the distance.

So there it is, my first Triathlon story. Ill be registering for the Sprint again for next year, and taking my revenge on the course.
I’m also not ready to give up on Tri. I know I can do better and am obviously already training for an Olympic distance with Team in Training.

Lesson learned: Know the course, and give yourself time to train!

Thanks for reading!

Keep Tri-ing!

Tuesday 6 December 2011

5/12/2011




So this post is coming in a little late, I would have posted yesterday but I decided to reserve Monday nights my long-run training sessions.  
The rest of the week was actually pretty decent as well. On Sunday I really pushed myself in the pool, and a the end I finally found a pace that I think I can hold for a decent amount of time. Its not exactly lightning speed, but I can keep doing it longer than when I'm really pulling my strokes in. Also later in the week I met up with my TNT team for swimming at the Olympic Stadium! It's a little far of a drive, but it was really cool to be swimming in an Olympic pool. 
Biking has also been going pretty decently, with learning a good number of drills that I can practice on the bike. I'm realizing that I really need to buy a bike trainer, because going for spinning classes is getting pricey, and the old stationary bike that I have at home just isn't the right fit for me.
Running has also been going well. I've been splitting up my training because long, speed, and interval sessions. I know it might be too soon to tell, but I think it's been paying off already. As I mentioned at the beginning of this post, Monday nights are now my long sessions. Last night I ran for about an hour and a half at a fair 10min/mile with a 1% incline on the treadmill. While that speed isn't so fast, I'm glad that I was able to keep it up for the entire time, without my heart-rate spiking up too high (see data below). Small incident though last night, I was about a half hour into the run when a fuse popped. That explains the little dip (the others were probably me replugging in my headphones).

That's it for now. Tomorrow I start sending out as many facebook messages as I can to fund-raise for St. Anthony's with TNT.
Keep on Tri-ing!






Sunday 4 December 2011

NBC Ironman 2011

Oh man quick post...I've been looking all over the web trying to find coverage from this years' Kona Ironman World Championship, and it is apparently gonna be released this Saturday! Now I just gotta find a PVR.
Here the apparent preview;